Transducer assemblies and methods

ABSTRACT

A method in a transducer assembly having an external-device interface coupled to a communication protocol interface of the transducer assembly. The transducer assembly is configured to convert an input signal having one physical form to an output signal having a different physical form. At least two electrical signals are received on corresponding contacts of the external-device interface of the transducer assembly. A characteristic of at least one of the electrical signals is determined by evaluating a logic transition of the signal. A unique identity assigned to the transducer assembly is determined based on the characteristic.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of and priority to U.S. ProvisionalPatent Application No. 62/414,578, filed Oct. 28, 2016, the entirecontents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE

The present disclosure relates generally to transducer assemblies havinga digital communication interface and more particularly to configurationof a communication protocol of the interface, and methods therefor.

BACKGROUND

Electroacoustic transducers, like speakers and microphones, havingdigital interfaces are known generally and provide a bettersignal-to-noise ratio and RF immunity than devices with analoginterfaces. For example, digital microphones are used in numerousapplications, such as portable communication devices includingsmartphones etc., where improved noise immunity provides a better userexperience. The digital interface of these and other transducers isgenerally compliant with a single standardized communication protocol sothat the transducer can exchange data and control information whenconnected to a host device.

The various aspects, features and advantages of the present disclosurewill become more fully apparent to those having ordinary skill in theart upon consideration of the following Detailed Description and theaccompanying drawings described below.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The disclosure is described in more detail below in connection with theappended drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of a communication device comprisinga plurality of nominally identical digital microphone assembliesconnected to a host processor via a host communication interface;

FIG. 2 is an internally exposed view of a digital microphone assembly;

FIG. 3 is a digital interface for a surface mount transducer assemblycomprising a plurality of externally accessible contacts;

FIG. 4 is a schematic block diagram of a digital transducer assembly;

FIG. 5 is a schematic block diagram of optional circuits of theprocessing circuit for a digital transducer of FIG. 4 assembly;

FIG. 6 is a first ID code table for deriving unique identification codesfor a transducer assembly;

FIG. 7 is a second ID code table for deriving unique identificationcodes for a transducer assembly;

FIG. 8 is a third ID code table for deriving unique identification codesfor a transducer assembly;

FIG. 9 is a plot of counter value versus measurement time signalactivity on a communication interface;

FIG. 10 is a schematic block diagram of a pin control and assignmentmechanism for the plurality of externally accessible contacts of atransducer assembly;

FIG. 11 is a flow diagram for determining a communication protocol on acommunication interface.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following, various exemplary embodiments are described withreference to the appended drawings. The skilled person will understandthat the accompanying drawings are schematic and simplified for clarityand therefore merely show details which are essential to theunderstanding of the disclosure, while other details have been left out.Like reference numerals generally refer to like elements or componentsthroughout. Like elements or components will therefore not necessarilybe described in detail with respect to each figure. It will beappreciated further that certain actions or steps may be described ordepicted in a particular order of occurrence while those skilled in theart will understand that such specificity with respect to sequence isnot actually required unless so indicated.

The transducer assemblies or devices described herein may form part of aportable communication device or apparatus such as a smartphone, mobilephone, laptop computer, gaming device, inventory device, point of saledevice, etc. Alternatively, the transducer assemblies may be used in arelatively stationary application, like in a gaming console, a desktopmicrophone, or in an appliance, among other applications. The transducerassemblies may also be used in vehicles and in other devices or systems.In some implementations, two or more nominally identical transducerassemblies are employed in the same device. Microphones are considerednominally identical if they communicate using the same protocol. Forexample, multiple digital microphones may be integrated in a portableelectronic device like a smart phone for sensing various sounds such asspeech and background noise for subsequent processing. In otherembodiments, the transducer assemblies are embodied as other sensors,like pressure, temperature, gas, and ultrasonic sensors. A transducerassembly may also comprise a combination of sensors, for example, anacoustic sensor and a pressure sensor, or an acoustic sensor incombination with another sensor like a temperature sensor and a gassensor, among other sensors.

In one embodiment, one or more transducer assemblies are electricallycoupled to an external processor. FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram ofa host processor 150 electrically coupled to a plurality of microphoneassemblies, 100 a, 100N. The host processor may be part of a portableelectronic device or some other system or device, examples of which arediscussed herein. As suggested, each microphone assembly comprises aplurality of externally accessible contacts that are electricallycoupled to corresponding contacts of the host hardware interface. Theterm “contact” is used generically herein to mean pins, pads,through-holes, sockets, etc. and any other conductive member that may beelectrically coupled to a mating structure irrespective of the shape orconfiguration of the contact or the mechanism (e.g., soldering, frictionfit, etc.) by which the electrical and mechanical coupling is achieved.

The one or more transducer assemblies may be electrically coupled to thehost processor, device or system by a carrier substrate to which thehost processor is mounted or otherwise electrically connected. Thecarrier substrate may be implemented as a circuit board, socket or otherinterface. The carrier substrate generally includes wires or tracesinterconnecting a plurality of external contacts on an interface of thecarrier substrate to corresponding busses of the host device orcommunication interface. The host processor, device or system could becoupled to contacts (e.g., a socket) on another interface of the carriersubstrate. In embodiments where the carrier substrate is a circuitboard, the wires or traces are integrally formed on or within thecircuit board. In other embodiments however the wires or traces are notnecessarily integrally formed on or with the carrier substrate. Assuggested, the external contacts on the interface of the carriersubstrate may be embodied as through-holes, pads, pins, sockets, etc.electrically connectable to corresponding contacts of the one or moretransducer assemblies. Such an electrical connection may be realizedusing reflow, wave or manual soldering processes among other couplingmeans.

Generally, the one or more transducer assemblies coupled to the carriersubstrate communicate with the host processor, device or system via aproprietary or standard communication protocol. Standard protocolsinclude, for example, I²C, I²S, USB, UART and SPI among other known andfuture protocols. In FIG. 1, the microphone assemblies include acommunication interface (e.g., contacts) that is electrically coupled toa shared buss of a Soundwire protocol hardware interface 152 associatedwith the host processor. The interface contacts between the hostprocessor and the microphone assemblies are illustrated onlyschematically in FIG. 1. More generally however, the host communicationinterface could be compliant with some other communication protocol. Theparticular protocol may depend, in part, on the type of transducerassembly among other considerations. The number of nominally identicaltransducer assemblies connected to the shared data bus of the hostcommunication interface may vary depending on the requirements of aparticular application and the protocol implemented. For Soundwireprotocol applications, up to 11 devices may concurrently share a commonbus. Other proprietary or standard interface communication protocols maysupport more or less devices.

In FIG. 1, consistent with the Soundwire protocol, the plurality ofexternally accessible contacts of each microphone assembly comprise afirst data interface contact (CLK) and a second data interface contact(DATA) connected to corresponding contacts of the host communicationinterface, wherein the multiple microphone assemblies 100 a, 100N sharebuses, e.g., the CLK and DATA busses, of the host communicationinterface. More generally however the communication interface may havemore or less contacts. For example, the contacts may correspond to oneor more of Select, Clock (CLK), Data, Word Sync (WS), Enable (En)functions, among others depending on the application or protocol. Somecommunication interfaces may also include power (VDD) and ground (GND)contacts. In some embodiments, one or more of the contacts areconfigurable to perform these or other functions. The DATA bus may beunidirectional or bi-directional depending on the protocol of the hostcommunication interface.

FIG. 2 is an exemplary embodiment of a microphone assembly 100 arepresentative of one of the digital microphone assemblies discussedabove. The assembly comprises a capacitive transducer element 102, e.g.,a microelectromechanical system (MEMS) transducer, or some other type oftransducer, for example, a piezo-electric transducer. In microphoneapplications, the capacitive transducer element converts incomingacoustic energy into an electrical signal. In FIG. 2, the transducerelement 102 comprises first and second transducer plates embodied as adiaphragm 105 and a back plate 106. A charge or bias is applied to thediaphragm and back plate by a DC charging circuit (not shown but wellknown). The microphone assembly also comprises a processing circuit 122which may include a semiconductor die, for example a mixed-signal CMOSsemiconductor device integrating analog and digital circuits. In someembodiments, the transducer assembly includes an identification codegenerator discussed further below. The processing circuit 122 is shapedand sized for mounting on a substrate or carrier element 111 of theassembly. The carrier element also supports the transducer element 102.The microphone assembly comprises a lid 103 mounted on the substratesuch that the lid and substrate jointly form an interior volume orcavity within a housing enclosing and protecting the transducer element102 and the processing circuit 122. The housing comprises a sound inletor port 109 through the carrier element 111, or through the lid in otherembodiments, for conveying acoustic energy to the transducer element 102as is known generally. The transducer element generates an electricalsignal at its output in response to sensed acoustic energy. Thetransducer element 102 may include an output pad or terminal that iselectrically coupled to the processing circuit 122 via one or moreinterconnecting wires 107. For surface mount devices, an essentiallyplane outwardly oriented lower surface 117 of the carrier element 111comprises a plurality of external contacts discussed above, an exampleof which is illustrated in FIG. 3.

The acoustic sensor of FIG. 2 is but one example of a transducerassembly. In other implementations of the disclosure, the transducerassembly could be embodied as a pressure sensor, a temperature sensor, agas sensor, and an ultrasonic sensor, among other sensors that includean interface for communicating with a host or external device using astandard or proprietary protocol. The acoustic sensor could also beembodied as a combination of one or more of the foregoing sensors, forexample, an acoustic sensor having integrated therewith one or more of atemperature sensor, a pressure sensor, a gas sensor, etc.

FIG. 3 is a bottom view of an exemplary miniature transducer assemblyhaving a digital interface comprising a plurality of externallyaccessible contacts numbered from 1 to 7. Other microphone or transducerassemblies however may comprise more or less contacts. Each of thecontacts 1 to 7, designated below as P-1, P-2 . . . P-7, may for examplecomprise a solder pad or bump for reflow soldering the transducerassembly onto a carrier substrate of a host device. As noted, thecarrier substrate may be embodied as a printed circuit board, which mayalso support a host processor and shared bus lines or wires (e.g., CLKand DATA among others depending on the protocol and the particularapplication) coupled to the host processor. In FIG. 3, the externallyaccessible contacts 1 to 6 are rectangular with substantially identicalsize and are spaced apart with a suitable pitch or separation. Contactsin other embodiments may have other shapes, arrangements and spacing. InFIG. 3, for example, the contact 7, designated P-7 below, is shaped as acircular solder-ring surrounding the sound port 109. In someimplementations, contact 7 may be a ground connection of the assembly.More generally however the interface could be for any other sensor,examples of which are discussed herein, and the contact arrangement andconfiguration may be specific to the particular sensor or sensors,application, and implementation constraints.

FIG. 4 is an electrical block diagram of a first exemplary embodiment ofthe processing circuit 122 of a transducer assembly, which maycorrespond to the microphone 100 a in FIG. 2 or to some other transducerassembly. In FIG. 4, an analog electrical signal generated by thetransducer element 102 in response to sensing an acoustic input is inputto the processing circuit 122 via bonding wires and/or pads as discussedabove. More generally, however, the transducer may sense ultrasonicenergy, temperature, pressure, gas etc. and provide an appropriateelectrical output to the processing circuit. The processing circuit maycomprise a CMOS semiconductor die embodied in whole or in part as one ormore ASICs or other circuits for performing the functions describedherein. In FIG. 4, the sensor 102 is an acoustic sensor and theprocessing circuit 122 includes a Soundwire compliant communicationprotocol interface 320. Other protocols may also be used for acousticsensors. More generally, in other implementations the sensor could be anon-acoustic device and the communication interface could be compliantwith some other communication protocol, such as I²C, I²S, USB, UART,SPI, among other known or future protocols. In some embodiments, assuggested, the transducer type may limit the interfaces available. Forexample, the Soundwire interface is suitable for acoustic signalinterfaces.

The Soundwire protocol interface includes a DATA contact and a CLKcontact but the SELECT function is not used. Thus the SELECT contact isgenerally not required on transducer assemblies implementing theSoundwire protocol. In some embodiments, however, the SELECT contact isused for Soundwire protocol applications to provide a greater number ofunique identities and to accommodate different communication protocolsas discussed further herein. In FIG. 4, power is supplied to theprocessing circuit 122 via the VDD and GND contacts, for example,corresponding to contacts P-3 (VDD) and P-7 (GND) in FIG. 3. Acommunication interface configured for other protocols may associateother functions with other contacts on the user interface. Theprocessing circuit 122 may also comprise voltage or current regulators(not shown) that regulate power to the circuit blocks of the processingcircuit 122.

In FIG. 4, the processing circuit 122 also comprises a single-bit ormulti-bit analog-to-digital (A/D) converter 340 coupled to an output ofthe transducer element 102, for example through a DC blocking capacitor,for receipt of the electrical signal produced by the transducer element102. Some embodiments of the processing circuit 122 may comprise apreamplifier or an impedance matching circuit (not shown) in the signalpath between the transducer element and the A/D converter 340 to amplifyand/or buffer the electrical signal prior to the A/D converter. Theoptional preamplifier or impedance matching circuit may be embodied asdiscrete components or as components integrated with other components ona common ASIC. The A/D converter produces a digital signal or stream ofsamples representative of an analog electrical signal obtained from thetransducer 102. The A/D converter may be implemented as a multi-levelsigma-delta converter (ΣΔ) or modulator or a flash converter. In oneembodiment, the sigma-delta converter is clocked at a first oversampledfrequency or sampling rate, for example a sampling frequency between 1.2MHz and 3.072 MHz. In other embodiments, the A/D converter is clocked atother rates.

In FIG. 4, an optional programmable clock divider 346 is configured toproduce an internal clock signal 342 from an external clock signalprovided by the host device at the CLK contact of the external-deviceinterface. The programmable clock divider 346 may for example beconfigured to divide the external clock signal by an integer numberbased on information in a system control register 344 associated with aprocessor or controller 330 of the processing circuit 122. The externalprocessor (e.g., the host device processor 150 in FIG. 1) generallysupports one or more standardized clock frequencies, such as 19.2 MHzand 6.144 MHz, which can be reduced to common digital audio samplingfrequencies such as 48 kHz using an integer clock division scheme.Alternatively, the internal clock signal 342 could be generated from aninternal oscillator of the transducer assembly. The internal clocksignal, whether obtained from a local oscillator or from an externalsource or from a combination thereof, sets the sample rate or frequencyof the A/D converter 340 and the clock frequency of various othercircuits of the transducer assembly. In one implementation, the samplerate of the ADC 340 is set to 3.072 MHz or 2.4 MHz.

Generally, various device settings and configurations of the transducerassembly are controlled by the processor or controller 330 of thetransducer assembly and any required settings may be stored innon-volatile memory of the transducer assembly, for example in thesystem registers 344 of FIG. 4. These device settings and configurationsof the transducer assembly may be controlled by an external processor,such as a DSP or microprocessor of the host device, by writingappropriate commands to the controller 330 via one of the contacts ofthe external-device interface. Where the communication interface of themicrophone assembly is SoundWire compliant as discussed above, thecontroller and associated registers may be used to customize certainSoundWire parameters such as a number of channels, sample width, sampleinterval, HStart, HStop (Number of frame columns−1) and the block offsetof each microphone assembly connected to the SoundWire bus, e.g., 1, 4and 7. The system registers may be used to store other types of usefuldevice information such as a device identification number which is aunique identification for a particular microphone assembly on a busshared by two or more other microphones assemblies. In some embodimentswhere multiple transducers are connected to a common bus, the transducerassembly communicates the device identification to a host processor viathe interface coupled to a bus of the host communication interface. Inother embodiments, the host processor is aware of the deviceidentification number by virtue of the configuration of the contacts ofthe carrier substrate to which the host device is coupled.

In FIG. 4, the processing circuit 122 may also comprise additionaloptional circuits identified schematically at block 326, examples ofwhich are illustrated in FIG. 5. The optional circuits include a digitalsignal conditioning circuit 510 having an input coupled to the A/Dconverter, for example, the ADC 340 of FIG. 4, wherein the conditioningcircuit receives a stream of samples from the A/D converter. The signalconditioning circuit generally structures and times received bitsaccording to a communication interface configuration set or defined by acontroller, for example, the controller 330 in FIG. 4. In oneembodiment, in FIG. 5, the circuit 510 includes a digital-to-digital(D/D) converter configured to generate a corresponding Pulse DensityModulated (PDM) signal. In embodiments where the transducer assemblyoutputs PDM format signals, a PDM signal is applied to an input of thecommunication interface 320 in FIG. 4. In Soundwire protocolimplementations, the communication interface is configured to write eachbit of the PDM signal to a particular frame column of a predeterminedframe row of a Soundwire data frame. The Soundwire compliantcommunication interface writes the bits of the PDM signal to theexternally accessible DATA contact for input to the Soundwire data busof the host communication interface. In some transducer assemblyimplementations, it is not desirable to convert the digital signal toPDM format and thus the D/D converter is not required.

In FIG. 5, in some embodiments, the processing circuit of the transducerassembly includes a local oscillator 520 coupled to a clock signalgenerator 530 that produces an internal clock signal during at leastsome time periods. For example, the internal clock signal generated fromthe local oscillator may be used when operating in a low power,always-on mode when the host device or system is in a sleep mode or whenan external clock signal is otherwise not available from the externalprocessor. The clock signal generator 530 may also perform clock signaldivision in lieu of the clock divider 346 in FIG. 4. The functionalityof the clock signal generator may be implemented in whole or part bydiscrete circuits or components or by a processor, for example theprocessor 330 of FIG. 4.

In FIG. 5, in some embodiments, the processing circuit of the transducerassembly also includes a detector 540 that detects one or more voicecharacteristics or speech of the sensor signal. Such characteristics orspeech include the presence of voice activity, or more sophisticatedcharacteristics like phonemes, keywords, commands, or phrases. Inembodiments where the microphone assembly operates in an always-on mode,voice activity detection may occur at low power while the host device isasleep. Voice activity detection is characterized generally as voiceversus noise discrimination. The detection of more sophisticated voicecharacteristics like speech generally occurs only upon prior detectionof likely voice activity. This approach reduces power consumption sincethe speech detector can sleep until likely voice activity is detected.The more sophisticated characteristics like speech generally do notexist in the absence of voice activity and the processing of thesecharacteristics requires more processing resources and powerconsumption. The detection of these more sophisticated voicecharacteristics may be performed at the microphone assembly or at thehost device. Thus upon successful detection of voice activity, themicrophone assembly may awaken circuits in the microphone assembly or inthe host to perform such function. In some embodiments, the detector 540may attempt to detect one of the more sophisticated voicecharacteristics without performing prior voice activity detection, forexample, where voice activity detection is not implemented or inembodiments where increased power consumption associated with thedetection of more sophisticated voice characteristics is not a concern.Where detection of voice activity or other voice characteristics occursat the microphone assembly, data is buffered in buffer 550 duringdetection to ensure that potentially valid voice data is not lost duringdetection.

In some embodiments, the digital signal is subject to a format changebefore buffering and in some embodiments before voice activitydetection. For example, a PDM format signal output from the signalconditioner may be converted to a PCM format signal using a decimatorbefore buffering. Voice activity detection may be performed on PDM orPCM format data or on some other format data. Thus in some embodimentsit may not be necessary to decimate the digital signal on whichdetection occurs.

In one implementation, the host device is in a sleep or partial sleepmode during voice activity detection by the microphone assembly. Themicrophone assembly may awaken the host device with an interrupt signalprovided by the microphone assembly upon detection of likely voice orupon subsequent detection of a phoneme, keyword, command, or phrase atthe microphone assembly if detection of these other voicecharacteristics is performed at the microphone assembly. In always-onapplications, the microphone assembly reverts to the low power voiceactivity detection mode absent detection of the more sophisticated voicecharacteristics without interrupting the host device. If detection ofthe more sophisticated voice characteristics like phonemes, keywords,commands, or phrases is performed by the host device, the host is awakenafter detection of voice activity at the microphone assembly. Failure ofthe host device to subsequently detect a more sophisticated voicecharacteristic will result in the host device returning to sleep orother low power mode and the microphone assembly returning to the lowpower voice activity detection mode.

Generally, upon awakening the host device, the microphone assembly alsotransmits any buffered data to the host device whereupon the host devicemay process the buffered data to avoid the loss of any information thatwas received at the microphone assembly during detection. In FIG. 5,after detection of one or more voice characteristics at the microphoneassembly, buffered data and real-time data are communicated from thetransducer assembly at substantially the same time, which means eitherat the same time or at virtually the same time or faster than thereal-time rate at which data is received from the microphone sensor. Inone embodiment, a multiplexor 560 multiplexes the buffered data withreal-time data received before sending the multiplexed data to the host,whereupon the host device processes the multiplexed data so that thebuffered data is stitched to and ordered before the real-time data,thereby providing a relatively continuous stream of informationrepresentative of that received by the microphone sensor. Only real-timedata is communicated to the host device after the buffer is emptied orafter there is sufficient overlap between the buffered data and thereal-time data. The format of the buffered data may be changed beforethe buffered data is provided at the communication interface of thetransducer assembly if a different data format is required. For example,where PCM format data is buffered and PDM format data is desired at theoutput of the communication interface, the PCM data may be converted toPDM format using an interpolator or other known mechanism.

In FIG. 4, in one implementation, the host device provides the externalclock signal at the CLK contact of the interface 320 after the hostdevice is awaken in response to an interrupt from the microphoneassembly. For example, the microphone assembly may transmit theinterrupt to the host via either the Select, Data other interfacecontact. The external clock signal provided to the microphone assemblymay be at the same or substantially the same frequency as the internalclock signal and may be used to synchronize the internal clock signalwith the clock signal of the host device. The external clock signal mayalso be at a different frequency than the internal clock signal. In oneembodiment, the frequency of the external clock signal controls theoperational state of the microphone assembly including the powerconsumption thereof. For example, a relatively high frequency externalclock signal may transition the microphone assembly from a relativelylow power operating mode to a higher power operating mode or a normaloperating mode. An increase in the frequency of the external clocksignal may occur upon detection or verification of voice activity in thedata by the external processor.

According to one aspect of the disclosure, a unique identification codeis assigned to a transducer assembly by uniquely hardwiring the one ormore buses of the host processor, device or system to a particular setof contacts of the communication interface of the transducer assemblyvia an interconnecting carrier substrate. As suggested, the hostprocessor is typically mounted on or otherwise coupled to externalcontacts on an interface of a carrier substrate comprising a printedcircuit board. According to this aspect of the disclosure, conductivewires or traces disposed on or embedded in different carrier substratesare configured to connect the busses of the host device with differentexternal contacts of the carrier substrate interface where thetransducer assembly is mounted. The configuration of the conductivetraces on the carrier substrate could be performed by the supplier ormanufacturer of the carrier substrate. Thus configured, the externalcontacts on different carrier substrates are coupled to different bussesof the host device or processor. The differently configured contacts ofthe carrier substrate may be used to assign different unique identitiesto transducer assemblies coupled to the carrier substrate. Some examplesare discussed below.

The host communication interface busses are electrically connected tothe external-device interface of the microphone assembly via the carriersubstrate. However, the various host interface busses are coupled todifferent contacts of the microphone assembly depending on theconfiguration of the contacts on the carrier substrate. In the Soundwireexample, the CLK bus is electrically connected to a specific one of thecontacts P-1, P-2 and P-4 of the microphone assembly while the DATA busis electrically connected to another one of the contacts P-1, P-2 andP-4 of the microphone assembly to set or program a unique identificationcode of the transducer assembly. For example, contact 1 of a firsttransducer coupled to a first carrier substrate may be connected to theDATA bus, and contact 2 of a second transducer coupled to a secondcarrier substrate may be connected to the DATA bus, resulting theassignment of different unique identification codes to the first andsecond transducers. Thus by configuring the contacts on multiple carriersubstrates differently, as discussed, each microphone assembly may beassigned a unique identification code. Different sensor types anddifferent communication protocols will necessarily implicate differentbusses configurations. The available number of unique identificationcodes depends on the number of available contacts and may also belimited by the particular protocol, since some protocols support only alimited number of devices on a common bus.

The transducer assembly is configured to determine its uniqueidentification code by evaluating signals received on the externalcontacts of the interface. The transducer assembly may determine itsassigned identification code by evaluating logic transitions on one ormore of the interface contacts. In the Soundwire example above, logicstate transitions on the DATA or CLK contacts are evaluated relative toone or more transition criterion (e.g., switching frequency, logiclevel, transition count, etc.) for this purpose. In other protocols,other logic transitions are evaluated relative to other criterion. Suchinformation may or may not be known for a particular communicationprotocol. In some implementations, for example, it may only be necessaryto determine that a signal on a particular contact is a clock signalrather than a select signal held high or low. This evaluation permitsdetermination of the unique identity assigned to each of the one or moretransducer assemblies. In Soundwire implementations, the uniqueidentification code may be written to a predetermined address of a SlaveControl Port (SCP) register of the SoundWire interface. In someembodiments, the transducer assembly communicates this identity to ahost processor. In other embodiments, the host processor may alreadyknow the identity of the transducer assembly based on a knownconfiguration of the carrier substrate.

Several ways of implementing this hard-wired setting or programming ofthe unique identification code of the transducer assembly are discussedwith reference to FIG. 6, FIG. 7 and FIG. 8, which illustrate how uniqueidentification codes may be assigned based on connectivity of two ormore of the externally accessible contacts of the transducer assemblycoupled to carrier substrates having different contact bus assignments.At least some of these examples are suitable for transducersimplementing the Soundwire or PDM protocols and having the interfacecontact layout of FIG. 3, but the disclosure is applicable to transducerassemblies implementing other communication protocols and to transducerassemblies having different contact layouts.

In FIG. 6, row 505 a of ID code table 500 a identifies the contactnumbers of the microphone assembly with reference to the exemplarycontact layout depicted on FIG. 3. As shown, pin P-3 is connected to aDC supply voltage (VDD) bus and pin P-7 is connected to a ground (GND)bus of the carrier substrate. In this example, pins P-4, P-5 and P-6 areunused. Pins P-1 and P-2 are used for the selection or programming ofthe unique identification code. When the DATA bus of the hostcommunication interface is connected to pin P-1 and the CLK bus isconnected to pin P-2, the unique identification code 1 is assigned asspecified by column 501 a. When the connectivity of these pins isreversed such that the DATA bus is connected to pin P-2 and the CLK busis connected to pin P-1, the unique identification code 0 is assigned.The example allows assignment of a unique identification code to each oftwo microphone assemblies based on how the CLK and DATA busses of thehost communication interface are connected to the contacts of thetransducer assembly.

In FIG. 7, ID code table 500 b supports up to eight uniqueidentification code assignments, wherein pin P-3 is connected to the DCsupply voltage (VDD) and pin P-7 is connected to ground GND of thecarrier substrate as before. Pins P-5 and P-6 are unused in thisexample. Pins P-1, P-2 and P-4 are used for assignment or programming ofthe unique identification code of the microphone assembly. One of thesepins is pulled logically high (Select 1) or logically low (Select 0) bythe host processor, for example, by connecting the pin in question to aDC supply voltage (VDD) or to ground (GND) on the carrier substrate. Thelatter feature implies that the pin remains static or non-switched andthat the processor of the transducer assembly may detect the staticlogic level of the pin in question (e.g., pin P-1, P-2 or P-4 in thepresent embodiment) by reading its state through a suitable I/O port ofthe processor. The first or uppermost row of the ID code table 500 bconcerning the connections of pins P-1, P-2 and P-4 shows that when theCLOCK bus of the host communication interface is connected to pin P-1,the DATA bus connected to pin P-2 and the pin P-4 connected logicallylow (0), the unique identification code 0 is assigned to the transducerassembly as specified by column 501 b. Similarly, if the connections ofpins P-1 and P-2 are maintained but the pin P-4 is connected logicallyhigh, “Select 1” instead of “Select 0”, the unique identification code 1is assigned and so forth for the various permutations of theconnectivity of pins P-1, P-2 and P-4. Thus use of the additional Selectcontact permits the assignment of many more unique identities.

According to another aspect of the disclosure, the communicationinterface of the transducer assembly is configurable for differentprotocols depending on how the contacts of the carrier substrate areconnected to the various busses of the host processor. In one example,the interface protocol is configured for the SoundWire protocol or forthe PDM protocol. In FIG. 7, column 507 b identifies the differentprotocols in this exemplary application. The PDM data interface isselected by connecting pins P-1, P-2 and P-4 to the host processorbusses as specified by the two lower-most rows inside box 510 b, whereinpin P-2 is connected to DATA and pin P-4 is connected to CLOCK. Byconnecting pin P-1 to either a logic high level (“Select 1”) or a logiclow level (“Select 0”), it is possible to select the phase, relative tothe applied clock signal, where new data are transmitted on the DATApin. The PDM data interface has been adopted by numerous prior artmicrophone assemblies such that providing a carrier substrate interfaceconfigured to accommodate the PDM protocol or some other protocol (e.g.,Soundwire, I²C, I²S, USB, UART, SPI among others), the host processorinterface is interoperable with numerous devices. The PDM data interfacemode therefore provides convenient interoperability with legacymicrophone products and enables testing and verification of numerousbasic audio quality metrics of the microphone assembly without requiringadvanced test equipment with a SoundWire compatible data communicationinterface or similar standardized data communication interfaces.

The ID code table 600 of FIG. 8 shows contact connectivity according toa third embodiment supporting up to fourteen unique identification codesfor a 5 contact interface. As shown in table 600, the pin P-3 isconnected to the DC supply voltage bus (VDD) and pin P-7 is connected tothe ground (GND) bus of the carrier substrate as before. Pins P-5 andP-6 are unused. Pins P-1, P-2 and P-4 are used for the selection orprogramming of unique identification code. However, the functionality ofthe pin P-4 is different from that of pin P-4 in FIG. 7. In FIG. 8, thevoltage on, or current through, pin P-4 can be detected by the processorof the transducer assembly at several discrete signal levels (sevendiscrete levels in FIG. 8) indicated in column 610 of ID table 600. Thepin P-4 may be connected to a voltage/current sampling device (e.g., anA/D converter) of the processing circuit 122 (refer to FIG. 4) capableof measuring or detecting the voltage or current on P-4 with sufficientaccuracy to distinguish the different levels. The voltage or current ofpin P-4 may be set by connecting pin P-4 to a suitable DC voltage of thecarrier substrate and may remain static or non-switched duringoperation. The transducer assembly processor may detect the voltage orcurrent level of the pin P-4 by reading the voltage or current of asuitable I/O port of the processor connected to the voltage/currentsampling device. The first or uppermost row of the ID code table 600concerning the connections of pins P-1, P-2 and P-4 shows that when theCLOCK bus of the host communication interface is connected to pin P-1,the DATA bus connected to the pin P-2 and pin P-4 is connected to ground(0 volts), the unique identification code 0 is assigned as specified bycolumn 601 so on for other voltages or currents (e.g., levels 1-7)detected on pin P-4. In other embodiments, the different signal levels,in combination with different configurations of the other contacts, maybe used to communicate different protocols or a combination of differentprotocols and unique ID code assignments.

In one embodiment, a characteristic of one or more of the electricalsignals received on corresponding contacts of the external-deviceinterface are determined by evaluating one or more logic transitions ofeach of the one or more signals. In some instances, a result of theevaluation is that no logic transitions are detected, for example, wherethe electrical signal is a Select signal held high or low. In oneimplementation, the characteristic of at least two electrical signals atcorresponding first and second contacts of the external-device interfaceare evaluated by determining which of the at least two electricalsignals is a Clock signal and which of the at least two electricalsignals has a high or low Select state. Such an evaluation may be usedto determine the unique identity based on a contact on which the Clocksignal is provided and based on a contact on which the electrical signalwith the high or low Select state is provided, as illustrated in Table7. If various signal levels are detectable, the unique ID may bedetermined based in part on the detected signal level, as discussedshown in FIG. 8.

FIG. 9 illustrates one mechanism by which the transducer assemblydetermines the characteristic of the one or more signals oncorresponding contacts at the external-device interface of thetransducer assembly. The x-axis represents measurement time on anarbitrary time scale and the y-axis represents a number of logic statetransitions on the selected contact during the measurement time. Themeasurement time may be set to a fixed value by knowledge of thecommunication protocol in question. For Soundwire applications, themeasurement time is set to a value between 0.2 ms and 1.0 ms such asabout 0.333 ms for a 12.288 MHz frequency of the CLK signal on the CLKbus. This measurement time range is selected by noting that 4096 BusReset Bit-Slots correspond to ⅙ ms. This makes the measurement time andprocessor's ability to evaluate the logic transitions on the externallyaccessible contacts relative to a priori known SoundWire busfunctionality immune to possible bus reset patterns on the SoundWirebus. The processor is configured to evaluate the logic transitions onthe externally accessible contacts of the assembly electrically coupledto the busses of the host data communication interface based on counterdata for each contact. More specifically, a rising-edge of a signalwaveform on each contact is utilized to increment the count of a countercircuit or a counter function of the processor. At the end of thepredetermined measurement time, a final count associated with eachcontact may be used to determine the corresponding functionality (e.g.,Clock, Data, or Select) of each contact.

In FIG. 9, a counter is used to determine different types of logictransitions on contacts for a transducer assembly implementing theSoundwire protocol. A fixed logic level (e.g., Select 1 or Select 0) onan interface contact results in a count of 0 at the measurement time asshown on line 701. The CLOCK bus of the host communication interface isactive after Power-On-Reset (POR) and carries a valid SoundWire clockfrequency, which has a relatively high count value at the measurementtime as shown on line 705. The DATA pin, taking into consideration theSoundWire NRZI DATA encoding of the DATA bus should, with highcertainty, obtain a lower count compared to the count on the CLOCK bus.The DATA pin is expected to at least carry a SoundWire frame after POR.The counter fall-out range outcome is marked with the portion of thehatched triangle in graph 700.

For PDM mode, the CLOCK signal is expected to carry any valid PDM clockfrequency according to a normal operating digital microphone with clockfrequency measured in the MHz range. The DATA bus may or may not carryany PDM data. The DDR signalling on the DATA bus however has atheoretical toggle-rate that equals the CLOCK toggle-rate. Specifically,the SoundWire Bus Reset pattern may be a challenge in this measurementcontext. A SoundWire Bus Reset pattern consists of 4096 per Bit-Slotalternating HIGHs and LOWs.

In some embodiments, one or more electrical signals received at theexternal-device interface of the transducer assembly may requirere-routing to different signal contacts of the communication protocolinterface, for example, between the DATA and CLK contacts and theSoundwire interface 320 in FIG. 4. This re-routing may be performed by aswitch that is controlled by a processor of the transducer assembly, forexample by the processor 330 in FIG. 4.

FIG. 10 shows a schematic block diagram of a contact re-routing switchfor the plurality of externally accessible contacts of the transducerassembly. P1, P2 and P3 represent external contacts on theexternal-device interface of a transducer assembly that utilizes Select,Data and Clock busses. The external contacts P1, P2 and P3 of thetransducer assembly are electrically coupled to corresponding externalcontacts of a carrier substrate, which may have one of several differentconfigurations as discussed. As indicated above, other contacts may alsobe used including power and ground. In the present example it is assumedonly the Select, Data and Clock busses of the host device are wired todifferent external contacts of the carrier substrate to convey theunique ID or to convey the protocol configuration. In this example, anypower and ground busses of the host device are not rewired to differentexternal contacts of the carrier substrate for this purpose. Moregenerally however other busses of the host device or system may berewired to different external contacts of the carrier substrate toconvey unique ID or protocol configuration information.

In some embodiments, the protocol interface of the transducer assembly,for example, the Soundwire interface 320 in FIG. 4, has a hardwiredinternal bus interface. In FIG. 10, for example, the internal Select,Data and Clock bus contacts of the protocol interface (not shown) arehardwired and aligned with corresponding outputs 1002, 1004 and 1006,respectively, of a re-routing circuit 1010. Thus where the externalinterface contacts of the carrier substrate are rewired to differentbusses of the host device or system (to provide unique IDs or protocolconfiguration information), it may be necessary for the transducerassembly to re-route one or more signals between the external interfaceof the transducer assembly and the hard-wired internal contacts of theprotocol interface. For example, with reference to FIG. 10 the carriersubstrate may be wired to provide CLOCK and DATA on external contacts P1and P2, respectively, on the interface of the transducer assemblyinterface. Thus it may be necessary to re-route the CLOCK signal on theexternal contact P1 so that it aligns with internal bus contact 1006 ofthe protocol interface of the transducer assembly. In this example, DATAon contact P2 is already aligned with the corresponding DATA contact ofthe protocol interface and does not require re-routing.

In FIG. 10, the re-routing of the signals on the external contacts ofthe transducer assembly occurs after determination of the signal typesand in some embodiments the signal levels on the various externalcontacts as discussed above. For this purpose the microphone assemblyincludes a re-routing circuit 1010 configured to re-route signals on theexternal-interface contacts to the hardwired internal bus interface.

According to another aspect of the disclosure, the transducer assemblyand more generally any electronic device having an external-deviceinterface is configurable to comply with one or more differentcommunication protocols implemented by an external device (e.g., a hostdevice), several non-limiting examples of which are discussed herein. Inone embodiment, the electronic device detects the protocol of the hostdevice interface based on signals received from the host interface andthen the electronic device is automatically configured to communicateusing the detected protocol. In another embodiment, the electronicdevice receives a message that identifies the protocol and theelectronic device is configured accordingly for communication using theidentified protocol. Various approaches are described below fordetermining the communication protocol used by the external device towhich the electronic device is coupled.

In one embodiment, the electronic device is a transducer assemblycomprising among other components a sensor, one or more electricalcircuits, and an external-device communication interface having aplurality of contacts. FIGS. 4 and 5 are representative of suchcircuits, although not all implementations will include all of thecircuits shown and other implementations will include circuits notshown. A transducer assembly may be embodied as a microphone assembly oras an assembly with a sensor other than a microphone. More generally,the electronic device may be any device that includes a communicationprotocol interface for communicating with some other device like a hostdevice or system that communicates with the electronic device using acommunication protocol.

FIG. 11 shows a flow chart of a process for determining a communicationprotocol on a communication interface. At step 1002, the electronicdevice detects one or more signals on corresponding contacts of thecommunication interface when the contacts on which the detected signalsare electrically connected to external contacts of an external system orhost device providing the signals, for example, via a carrier substrateassociated with a host device or system. At step 1004, the electronicdevice determines a communication protocol used by the external devicebased on an evaluation of the one or more detected signals, examples ofwhich are discussed below. The evaluation may be performed by circuitsof the electronic device, for example, the processing circuit 122 inFIG. 4.

Generally, communication protocols have a specified set of signals(e.g., Clock, Data, Select, etc.) with detectable characteristics, oneor more of which may be used alone or in combination to identify theprotocol. Thus signal characteristics are detected for one or moresignals at corresponding contacts of the external-device interface. Suchcharacteristics may be obtained detecting logic transitions. Repeatinglogic transitions may be indicative of a clock signal generally or of aclock signal frequency in particular. Some detectable logic transitionsmay be indicative of start-stop bit intervals, or other periodic orrepeating signal structures. Other detectable logic transitions may beindicative of rates of change, or non-periodic or non-repetitive signalpatterns. As suggested, detectable logic transitions also include a lackof transitions. The absence of logic transitions on a signal couldindicate that the signal is selected (e.g., held) high or low. Signalcharacteristics also include data patterns. These and other signals ordata patterns, or lack thereof, detected on one or more external-deviceinterface contacts may be used to identify the communication protocol.Select examples of the use of these and other signal characteristics toidentify communication protocols are discussed further herein.

As suggested, the communication protocol may be identified generallyusing one or more signal characteristics. Generally, the robustness ofcommunication protocol identification will be greater when morecharacteristics are used to identify the protocol. Thus characteristicsof multiple signals may be required to accurately identify a particularprotocol. In some embodiments, a combination or aggregation of signalcharacteristics unique to a particular communication protocol may definea protocol signature used to identify the protocol. To identify acommunication protocol, a set of one or more signal characteristics orthe protocol signature may be compared to different sets of referenceinformation wherein each set of reference information is mapped to adifferent protocol. A particular protocol is identified by matching theone or more signal characteristics to reference information that isassociated with a particular protocol. The reference information may bestored in memory on the electronic device. In other embodiments, thespecific set of contacts on which a particular signal or set of signalsis received or detected may also be used to identify the protocol. Inthis latter case, the reference information maps the particular signaland the set of one or more contacts to the particular protocol.

The Inter-Integrated Circuit (I²C) protocol is a multi-master,multi-slave serial bus for connecting peripheral devices to a processoror controller. In the I²C protocol, transitions detected on a serialclock (SCK) bus may be used to identify the protocol. The clock signalis characterized by a series of pulse trains for each informationtransfer, wherein the pulse repetition rate is at a frequency of 100KHz, 400 KHz, or 1 MHz. The data pattern of the I²C protocol may also beused, alone or in combination with the clock signal, to identify theprotocol. The I²C data pattern is characterized by levels on a serialdata (SDA) bus as sampled by the SCK, wherein the data pattern comprisesa packet containing a slave ID followed by an address, a Read/Write bit,and data. Any particular slave device responds only to packetscontaining its slave ID, so the slave ID part of each packet is anunchanging and predictable pattern. The signature may also include anexplicit data message sent to an I²C slave during auto-detection. Thismessage would be specified by the manufacturer.

The Integrated Interchip Sound (I²S) protocol is a serial bus for, amongother uses, connecting digital audio devices. In I²S the protocol,repeating patterns detected on one or both of a bit clock (BCLK) bus anda Word Sync (WS) bus may be used to identify the protocol. The WS signalrepeats at one of a known set of frequencies like 8 KHz, 16 KHz, 24 KHz,32 KHz, 44.1 KHz, 48 KHz, 88.2 KHz, 96 KHz, or 196 KHz. The BCLK signalrepeats at a rate of 2×16, 2×24, or 2×32 that of the WS signal. A datapattern on a Serial Data In (SDI) bus does not normally have a fixedvalue. However, any known and identifiable information on the SDI busmay be used to detect the protocol.

The universal asynchronous receiver/transmitter (UART) protocoltranslates data characters to an asynchronous serial stream format thatencapsulates data between start and stop bits. In the UART protocol, astart-stop bit interval may be used to identify the communicationprotocol. A data pattern on a Serial Data In (SDI) bus may also be usedalone or in combination with start-stop bit interval to identify theprotocol. The SDI bus is at a high level when idle. The SDI bus isdriven low for at least one bit time, 8 bits of information are sent,and then the SDI bus is driven high again for one or two stop bit times.A data pattern for the information bits is not fixed for the UARTprotocol. The UART protocol interface also includes a parity bit, whichmay be used to help identify the protocol.

The Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI) bus protocol is a synchronouscommunication interface. In the SPI protocol, signals on a serial clock(SCLK) bus and a chip enable (CEN) bus may be sued to identify theprotocol. In between SPI frames, the CEN signal is high. When a framebegins, the CEN signal is driven low for a multiple of 16 SCLK cycles.The exact number of SCLK cycles per CEN frame is not fixed for thegeneric SPI protocol, but is defined for any particular system. A datapattern for information bits on the input (MOSI) is not fixed for theSPI protocol. In some instances, the communication protocol may beidentified using known information on MOSI.

In FIG. 11, at step 1006, the electronic device is configured tocommunicate pursuant to the identified communication protocol. In someimplementations, configuration of the electronic device occurs beforethe electronic device transmits any information to the host device. Inother embodiments, the electronic device transmits some information tothe external device before or during configuration of the interface ofthe electronic device, or even before receiving any information from theexternal device. In some embodiments, for example, the electronic devicemay transmit control or other information, but not data, to the hostdevice before configuration of the communication interface, whereupondata is transmitted only after configuration of the interface for thedetected protocol. In FIG. 11, at step 1008, the electronic devicecommunicates from the communication interface using the configuredprotocol. In one embodiment, the electronic device automatically detectsthe communication protocol of an external device to which the electronicdevice is connected and configures the electronic device including thecommunication protocol interface thereof, to communicate pursuant to thedetected protocol.

While the present disclosure and what is presently considered to be thebest mode thereof has been described in a manner that establishespossession by the inventors and that enables those of ordinary skill inthe art to make and use the same, it will be understood and appreciatedthat there are many equivalents to the exemplary embodiments disclosedherein and that myriad modifications and variations may be made theretowithout departing from the scope and spirit of the disclosure, which isto be limited not by the exemplary embodiments but by the appendedclaims.

1. A method in a transducer assembly having an external-device interfacecoupled to a communication protocol interface of the transducerassembly, the transducer assembly configured to convert an input signalhaving one physical form to an output signal having a different physicalform, the method comprising: receiving at least two electrical signalsof a communication protocol on corresponding contacts of theexternal-device interface of the transducer assembly; determining acharacteristic of at least one of the electrical signals received at theexternal-device interface by evaluating a logic transition of the atleast one electrical signal; and determining a unique identity assignedto the transducer assembly based on the characteristic of the at leastone electrical signal.
 2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:determining the unique identity assigned to the transducer assemblybased on the characteristic of the at least one electrical signal andbased on the contact on which the corresponding electrical signal isreceived; and communicating the unique identity assigned to thetransducer assembly at the external-device interface after determiningthe unique identity.
 3. The method of claim 1, further comprisingre-routing an electrical signal received on at least one contact of theexternal-device interface from one signal contact of the communicationprotocol interface to a different signal contact of the communicationprotocol interface after determining the characteristic of the re-routedelectrical signal.
 4. The method of claim 3, further comprisingcommunicating the unique identity assigned to the transducer assembly atthe external-device interface after determining the unique identity. 5.The method of claim 1, further comprising: determining a characteristicof at least two electrical signals received at corresponding first andsecond contacts of the external-device interface by determining which ofthe at least two electrical signals is a clock signal and which of theat least two electrical signals has a high or low state; and determiningthe unique identity based on a contact on which the clock signal isprovided and based on a contact on which the electrical signal with thehigh or low state is provided.
 6. The method of claim 5, wherein thecontacts of the communication protocol interface have a hardwiredfunctionality, the method further comprising re-routing at least oneelectrical signal received on a contact of the external-device interfacefrom one signal contact of the communication protocol interface to adifferent signal contact of the communication protocol interface afterdetermining a characteristic of at least one of the two electricalsignals.
 7. The method of claim 6, further comprising communicating theunique identity assigned to the transducer assembly at theexternal-device interface after determining the unique identity.
 8. Atransducer assembly having a surface-mount external-device interface,the assembly comprising: a sensor configured to convert an input signalhaving one physical form to an output signal having a different physicalform; an integrated circuit having a processor and a communicationprotocol interface; a plurality of contacts disposed on theexternal-device interface, each contact of at least a subset of theplurality of contacts of the external-device interface coupled to acorresponding signal contact of the communication protocol interface;the processor configured to determine a characteristic of at least oneelectrical signal received on a contact of the external-deviceinterface; and the processor configured to determine a unique identityassigned to the transducer assembly based on the characteristic of theat least one electrical signal.
 9. The assembly of claim 8, wherein eachof the signal contacts of the communication protocol interface have ahardwired functionality, the processor configured to re-route at leastone electrical signal received on a contact of the external-deviceinterface from one signal contact of the communication protocolinterface to a different signal contact of the communication protocolinterface after the characteristic of the at least one electrical signalis determined.
 10. The assembly of claim 9, wherein the processor isconfigured to initiate communication of the unique identity at theexternal-device interface of the transducer assembly.
 11. The assemblyof claim 8, wherein the processor is configured to: determine the uniqueidentity assigned to the transducer assembly based on the characteristicof the at least one electrical signal and based on the contact of theexternal-device interface on which the corresponding electrical signalis received; and initiate communication of the unique identity at theexternal-device interface of the transducer assembly.
 12. The assemblyof claim 8, wherein the processor is configured to: determine acharacteristic of at least two electrical signals received atcorresponding first and second contacts of the external-deviceinterface, at least one of the characteristics being a logic transitionindicative of a clock signal and at least one of the characteristicsbeing a high or low signal state; and determine the unique identitybased on a contact on which the clock signal is received and based on acontact on which the electrical signal with the high or low signal stateis received.
 13. The assembly of claim 12, wherein the processor isconfigured to re-route at least one electrical signal received on acontact of the external-device interface from one signal contact of thecommunication protocol interface to a different signal contact of thecommunication protocol interface after determining the characteristic ofthe at least one electrical signal.
 14. The assembly of claim 13,wherein the processor is configured to initiate communication of theunique identity at the external-device interface of the transducerassembly after determining the unique identity.
 15. The method of claim12, wherein the communication protocol interface is a Soundwire protocolcompliant interface.
 16. A surface-mounted electronic device comprising:an external-device interface having a plurality of contacts; anintegrated circuit having a processor and a communication protocolinterface having a plurality of signal contacts, each of the pluralityof signal contacts of the communication protocol interface coupled to acorresponding signal contact of the external-device interface, theprocessor configured to: determine a characteristic of one or moresignals provided on at least a subset of the plurality of contacts ofthe external-device interface when the subset of contacts are connectedto interface contacts of an external device; determine a communicationprotocol based on the characteristic of the one or more signals;configure the communication protocol interface for the communicationprotocol; wherein the electronic device communicates using thecommunication protocol after the communication protocol interface isconfigured.
 17. The device of claim 16, wherein the processor isconfigured to: determine the characteristic of the one or more signalsby detecting a logic transition of at least one signal on acorresponding contact of the external-device interface; and determinethe communication protocol by comparing the characteristic of the one ormore signals to reference information.
 18. The device of claim 17,wherein the logic transition represents any one of a repeating pattern,a repetition rate, or a data pattern.
 19. The device of claim 16,wherein the characteristic of one signal is a pulse repetition on aserial clock contact of the external-device interface and thecharacteristic of another signal is a data pattern on data contact ofthe external-device interface.
 20. The device of claim 16, wherein thecharacteristic of one signal is pulse repetition on a bit clock contactof the external-device interface and the characteristic of anothersignal is a pattern on word sync contact of the external-deviceinterface.
 21. The device of claim 16, wherein the characteristic of onesignal is start-stop interval on a serial data contact of theexternal-device interface.
 22. The device of claim 16, wherein thecharacteristic of one signal is an input on a serial clock contact ofthe external-device interface and the characteristic of another signalis an input on a chip-enable contact of the external-device interface.23. The device of claim 16, further comprising: an acoustic sensorhaving an electrical signal output coupled to the integrated circuit;the circuit including a buffer and a voice activity detector; theprocessor configured to buffer data representative of sound received bythe acoustic sensor in the buffer while the voice activity detectordetermines whether voice activity is present in data representative ofsound received by the acoustic sensor; and the processor configured tocommunicate data from the buffer and real-time data representative ofsound received by the acoustic sensor upon determining the presence ofvoice activity.